In the widely used 1954 Japanese Protestant hymnal Sanbika (or Sambika), there is a tune attributed to Fanny Jane (Crosby) Van Alstyne, which is given the tune-name designation CROSBY and dated 1867. It is given with two texts, both indigenous Japanese hymns of the late 19th century: No. 210 (first line Kiyokitokoroo, by Denkichi Fujimoto (1857-1935), dated 1894) and No. 492 (first line Kami no megumi wa, by Tsunejirō Amano (1866-1905), undated).

Fanny Crosby was one of the most prolific text authors in the history of Christian hymnody, with over 8,000 hymns to her credit, but (aside from this tune attribution in the 1954 Sanbika) I have never heard any mention of her as a composer of melodies. Mary Louise VanDyke, librarian of the Dictionary of American Hymnology at Oberlin College, tells me she has also seen no such information, and assures me that in Ms. Crosby's autobiography there is no mention of her engaging in tune composition. So the question arises, who wrote the tune the Japanese think Crosby wrote, and what (if anything) is its proper text, that is, the text it was written for or first published with? (For that matter, it may turn out that one of the texts set to it in Sanbika is in fact a translation or paraphrase of the proper text in English.)

Any assistance in identifying the provenance or authorship or original text of this tune will be gratefully received. PM me, or email me at cigneto@yahoo.com. Click here to visit a page in my online hymnal with a link to a MIDI of the tune.

Haruo